Virus kills Yosemite visitor, sickens another

STOCKTON - A rare, rodent-borne disease has killed a man and sickened a woman who may have been exposed to the disease while vacationing at Yosemite National Park.

Dana M. Nichols

STOCKTON - A rare, rodent-borne disease has killed a man and sickened a woman who may have been exposed to the disease while vacationing at Yosemite National Park.

Representatives of the Park and of the California Department of Public Health announced Thursday that the two had been diagnosed with hantavirus, an illness that kills about one-third of the people it infects.

The two, who were not identified, stayed in June at Curry Village, one of the oldest facilities in Yosemite Valley. Curry Village offers both tent and cabin accommodations.

Testing by the Centers for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health showed the virus was present in fecal matter from deer mice trapped in Curry Village.

"A lot of the cabins over in Curry Village are very old," said Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb. "We routinely make sure they are cleaned with a bleach solution, that they are disinfected."

Humans can be exposed to hantavirus by breathing dust particles from the droppings, urine or saliva of mice and other rodents.

If Yosemite visitors see signs of rodent contamination, they should not clean it themselves. Staff have the appropriate gloves and dust masks to wear while doing the work, Cobb said.

Symptoms of hantavirus can include fever, aches, chills, vomiting, abdominal pain and coughing. Symptoms can show up one to six weeks after exposure.

"Hantavirus is a rare but serious disease spread by rodents," said Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health.

People can be exposed to hantavirus in many areas in California where deer mice live, although exposure is most likely in the eastern Sierra Nevada region and at higher elevations.